When I was a kid playing basketball, I saw Larry Bird and Magic Johnson hawking Converse Weapons and dreamed about someday doing a commercial for my own shoe. Obviously, those dreams never quite materialized (I’ll pause as you wipe away the tears) but the dream of having my own custom set of kicks hasn’t died.

The most hardcore of sneaker heads may know this already, but Nike’s next step in the evolution of its Jordan line of shoes is was launched this week: you actually design and personalize your own pair of Jordan 2011’s. So I went to NikeID.com and started building. Being a Celtics guy, I had to go with my C’s Green & White, and I tossed my old number on the tongue.

Not bad. There’s even a spot on the back where you can add your initials.

I have to admit, this is pretty cool. And it’s a bold step for Nike to let you put your own twist on their shoes. You know someone is going to get too carried away with the color palette and create some monstrosity. But Nike is putting the control in your hands. Rather than release a set of 2011’s in a few different colors and then have fans sit and wait for a cool new colorway, Nike is letting you come up with the color scheme you want.

Of course, there aren’t a ton of colors to choose from, so there are limits. Nike is leaving itself some wiggle room to create new versions that weren’t available for the general public. So they’re still going to adhere to the old formula in that small way.

We’ll have to wait and see if this works. We’ll also have to wait and see if the $205 price tag scares people away. I’m hoping to get this pair paid for by my bosses. We can call it my official blogging shoe.